I’m writing this column 11 days after spring officially started. Five days prior to that (March 15), the New York State Environmental Conservation Department ordered a mandatory outdoor burning ban. Such remains in effect at least until June 15.
The compulsory ban is based on average early spring conditions. These normally include little or no prolonged snow cover, lots of wind, dead vegetation from last year’s annuals and perennials just starting to revive from long winter naps. Very commonly, strong March winds tend to over-dry already crisp annual vegetation. What was alive a few months ago rapidly becomes tinder – almost daring a lit cigarette or lightning bolt to ignite it.
Running a couple weeks later than normal, crocuses bloom in our front yard, being serviced by feral honeybees and bumblebees. A 40-plus-year-old birch tree overlooks those flowers and their six-legged guests. Almost every night since spring began, outdoor temperatures have dropped below freezing at most Northeast locations. Also delayed is the timing of birch-bud emergence. This is good, because, as a lot of old-timers stress, this milestone denotes proper timing for the planting of perennial grass and legume seeds, accompanied by nurse crop annual small grains.
At most locations, sugar maple sap has already gotten cloudy, resulting in maple syrup some call “road tar-grade” – my favorite.
Winter forages – most of them planted the previous September – are beginning to resurrect from dormancy. In that botanical grouping we find the following fall-planted winter annuals: wheat, rye, barley, triticale and speltz. Increasingly, the term “winter forages” is replacing the term “cover crops.” I believe the newer term portrays a more proactive approach to professional cropsmanship than the older phrase did.
Of the autumn-planted winter crops, triticale in less hardy than wheat. Rye is the hardiest winter cereal grain. (Triticale is a man-made hybrid of wheat, genus Triticum, and rye, genus Secale.)
Over time we also learned that winter triticale can function well as a forage or hay crop, producing more biomass than winter wheat or barley. Land grant agronomists rarely compare winter rye to triticale; rye has a much greater tendency to produce volunteer plants the next year.
Generally in the Northeast, winter forages hit optimum level of maturity, barely forming seed heads, between May 10 and 20. This is usually 10 days before perennial forages on neighboring fields would yield the most digestible dry matter per acre.
Autumn-planted winter forages start waking up as the last snow finishes melting, with temperatures still in the low 40s. So triticale can be harvested – usually 24 – 30 inches in height, as soil temperature commonly hits the 50º milestone – the same point at which corn can be safely planted.
In the more immediate future, let’s re-examine our winter forages, be they rye, triticale, wheat, barley or speltz. These cold-footed crops provide growers a disposal site for manure applications during autumn and late winter. Most small grain experts believe that triticale can metabolize up to 70 lbs. of nitrogen (N), applied during the five-month period of November through March. Semi-solid manure averages about 1% actual N. We expect an acre of triticale to process and store N from about 7,000 lbs. of that manure over that five-month period (70 lbs./1%).
Regarding rye, our math isn’t quite as firm: because rye is taller than triticale, most agronomists recommend that growers limit N applications for Secale to 50 lbs. from November to March. Due to rye’s height (up to two more feet that triticale), much extra N commonly causes lodging.
Presuming a typical 1% actual N level in semi-solid manure, we should limit autumn/winter application per acre of that soil amendment to 5,000 lbs. Moving forward toward Labor Day, I recommend that growers plant the cheaper (compared to triticale) bin-run winter rye seed, before planting the “grass seed” mixture the next spring. This is because these cold-footed perennial seeds can be planted into the disked-up winter rye sod. It’s a good idea to allow a week to 10 days to “mellow out” rye’s allelopathic (natural weed killer) properties.
Many farmers growing winter forage triticale can harvest hoped-for tonnage but are disappointed with protein levels. Opposite high soybean meal prices, lost forage protein hurts. Cornell-monitored fields crops research tallied in 2000 showed that a three-ton winter forage dry matter yield per acre removes 192 lbs. of N at 20% crude protein. Inadequate N and sulfur not only short-change the crop protein tests but also drain the soil of available N. Thus, when corn is planted next in the rotation, it does poorly for the first couple weeks.
A “treat-the-symptom-not-the cause” cure involves applying some starter N fertilizer with the corn seed. The better option would be to put enough N on this winter forage so any N unused during cold weather would be available to feed the newly emerged corn.
Remember: unlike corn and soybeans, winter forages boast fibrous root systems, well-suited to retain N until liberated by soil warmth. Inadequate N on a high-yielding winter triticale forage not only reduces forage crude protein but can undermine the performance of next year’s corn crop. Despite banded fertilizer, fledgling corn seedlings will be yellow and slow growing until soil organic matter is warm enough to release more N.
Briefly, here are two spring cover crop options presented by Dr. Thomas Björkman of Cornell’s Horticulture Section. He said that spring is the most common time to sow medium red clover, over-seeded into small grain. If mowed at early flowering, it can provide N and cover through summer, even until the following spring.
Also, according to Björkman, a lesser known “option for a short turnaround – white or yellow mustard sown in March or April – puts on biomass in May for incorporation at flowering in late May or early June. For frost seeding, the Tilney variety has the best take. Spring mustard suppresses weeds and can reduce soil disease pressure.”
That last trait is often referred to as soil fumigation.
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